Holder for cut flowers



June1o,193o. y c. J. STRAUB 1,762,843

HOLDER Fon cu'r r-Lowxns Filed Aug. 18, 1927 s i? arles Tjina-5, 13/wen i. i Y FBK@ 6 sold at considerably higher prices than flowscribed and more particularly pointed out in 55 -40 vide a holder for flowers which has a retainer hOOkS 8 which may be engaged with any of 90 PIOViSiOn of a holder for cut flowers, which Wire to spread outwardly at their outer ends, 95

5 flowers confined therein.

Patented June 10, 1930 1,762,843

CHARLES J'. STRAUB, OF GOWANDA, NEW YORK HOLDER ron CUT FLOWERS Application led August 18, 1927. Serial No. 213,769.

My invention relates to a holder for cut With the above and other objects in view, iowers. the invention consists in the novel features 'of y Cut flowers having long stems, and particuconstruction and in the arrangement and larly roses and other hot house flowers, are lcombination of parts to be hereinafter deyershaving short stems, and for that reason, as the subjoined claims.

well as for the reason that long stem flowers In the drawings:

'can be more effectively arranged and ar- Fig. 1 is a perspective View of my improved tistically displayed, they are in greater deholder showing the parts thereof in normal mand. However, vases and other vessels or condition. 60

containers intended for use in holding and F ig. 2 is a sectional elevation of a vessel or displaying flowers are invariably too short Water-container having my improved holder to effectively display flowers of the better inserted therein, with the side or retainerand more expensive kind, and this is particuring supporting members shaped to suit the .15 larly true of the vases and receptacles used conformation of the vessel or container and 65 in cemeteries for holding cut flowers. showing cut flowers and foliage assembled The prima object of my invention is to and held thereby. provide a hol er for cut flowers adapted for Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a vessel or use in conjunction with any kind of water- Water-container and my improved holder retaining vessel or container, regardless of its arranged therein, the container being of com- 70 height or slenderness; this being a decided paratively large diameter and the side or readvantage since many people use receptacles -tainer-ring supporting members of the holder of any kind for holdin flowers, and oftenformed to conform somewhat to the shape of times when displaying owers on or adjacent the vessel or container.

graves, vessels or containers for which they Fig. 4 is a side elevation of my improved 75 have no other use, regardless of the suitability holder arranged within a comparatively of the same for such purposes. small and shallow vessel or water-container,

My invention has for another object the the side or retainer-ring supporting members provision of a holder for cut flowers, which of the holder being bent upon themselves so can be easily shaped to conform more or less as to considerably reduce the height of the S0 to the vessel or container into which the stems holder and also provide proper supports for of thev flowers are to be placed. the holder. :Another object of my invention is to pro- The device comprises ra retainer ring 5, vide a holder for eut owers in which proviwhich is preferably constructed of thin wire sion is made for conveniently retaining the curved DCO I'ing OI'mtiOIl With the @nds 0f S5 stems or other parts of fiowers so that the the Wire overlapped, as at 6. This wire is iowers may be artistically arranged and re- .preferably crimped along its entire length tained in such condition. so as to provide interior indentations 7 and A further object of my invention is t0 prothe extremities of the Wires are in the form of ring adjustable to the size of the bouquet 0f said indentations within a limited region. flowers so that the flowersmay be spread or These hook ends are retained in firm engage- Separated for artistic display, y ment with parts of the ring near the ends of j A still further object of my invention is the the Wire by IGRSOII 0f the ltendency 0f the is simple and inexpensive, and the parts of due to the circular conformation of the which are comparatively slender so as to be same, and therefore the ring is retained to ad- `mere or less obscure when placed within a vesjusted` size with the crimped portions at one sel o'r container while having the stems of the end of the wire overlying .the crimped portion at the other end.' 10

In order to change the diameter of this retainer-ring it is only necessary to force the hooks inwardly out of engagement with the wire and pull upon the wires near their outer ends for enlarging the ring, or exert pressure lengthwise toward the terminals voft the wire to diminish the diameter ofthe ring. By taking hold of the ring and using the thumbs of opposite hands to force the hook ends of the wire inwardly to a slight degree, pulling on the Wires with a view of bringing the extremities thereof closer together, or exerting pressure on the wires in a direction toward their extremities will cause the hooks at opposite ends of the `wivresto ride in Contact with the crimped por- 'ltion of the wires and upon releasing the Len LIIS

mmbpressura the hook ends will immeaately find lodgement in certain indentations of the wire and hold the ring in adjusted position. This ring is adapted to be held elevated above the u per end of a vase or other container, and v or this purpose a support 9 for the ring is provided which is comparatively long and preferably tapered from the ring downwardly to its lower end.

In preferred form this support comprises two members 10, 11, which are of elongated .tk-formation and formed of thin narrow strips of pliant metal. Each of these memberscomprises, in the form in which the holder is sold, two downwardly-converging side members 12 and a. short cross member 13 connecting the lower ends of said side membem, the upper ends of said side members being fastened to the retainer ring 5 in any Vsuitable manner. In the drawings, I have shown connection between said side members and said retainer ring effected by bendthe side members around the ring and soldering the contacting parts of said side members together but this connection may be iam any other approved-manner.

'Ehe two supporting members ofthe supportare arranged at right angles to each otlmrso that connections of the supporting V,toward or from each other when changing the size of the retainer-ring. A'tight rigid connection of the two supporting members at their point of crossing would, under such Conditions, result strain being applied vto the connection and-after adjusting ythe retanersring to different sizes a number of times, the connection of the supporting memf against t bers ywould become loosened and separated. By reason of the length of the holder, vcut flowers having long stems may be artistically arranged within a vase or other elongated container, as it is only necessary to thrust the lower end of the holder into the container so that the upper end thereof projects out of the top of the saine. In many instances it is not necessary that the holder be thrust into the vase to the extreme lower end thereof, and this is particularly true where the opening of the Vessel is smaller in diameter than that of the retainer-ring. In such cases the friction of the up er portions of the side members 12 lie inner surface of the container will'retain the holder within the container in elevated position and the holder will extend out of the upper end of the container a considerable distance so that the cut flowers will be properly supported without droop-y and thus the projecting upper end of the holder will hardly be noticeable. The stems of the owers are inserted downwardly through the retainer ring and may be passed down between the side members of the support and beyond the lower end of the support, sufficient opening being provided between the. side members 12 and also around the cross members 13 of the support so that these members do not in any manner interfere with the proper placing of the stems Within the container, when, for example, the holder is not thrust into the receptacle to the extreme lower end.

The stems of the flowers when placed within the retainer-ring may be seated in any of the crimps of this ring, and thus after arranging the flowers in an artistic manner, they will lbe retained in such condition due to the impossibility of the stems sliding along the wire of the retainer-ring. This is a particularly desirable feature ofl my invention when using the same in water containers upon or adjacent graves in cemeteries, since only high winds will be able to displace the stems of the flowers from the indentations formed in the retainer-ring.

In Fig. 2 I have shown a conventional milk bottle into which my improved holder is placed, and as it is common practice to use discarded milk bottles in cemeteries for holding flowers, my improved holder is particularly desirable for use in connection with such bottles. As a milk bottle is short compared to a ower vase, the holder may be thrust -thereinto so that the lower end rests in contact with the bottom thereof. Due to the fact that the neck of the bottle is narrower than the holder at even height, the side members thereof will be flexed inwardly and therefore the straight line'conformation of these side members, as shown in Fig. l, will be changed to the shape shown in Fig. 2, or otherwise.

Oftentimes, onl shallow vessels or containers are availab e for use in cemeteries, and

' in Fig. 3 a comparatively shallow but extremely wide vessel is shown. When using m improved holder in connection with a vessel1 of this kind, the holder is thrust into the vessel and the side members bulged outwardly so as to widen the holder. Usually the side members are bent to conform more or less to the shape of the Vessel or container, and when so bending the side members the holder is considerably reduced in length, yet suicient len h is provided for properly holding flowers aving comparatively long stems.

When using an extremely shallow vessel of comparatively small or large diameter, such as shown in Fig. 4, it may be found desirable to bend the side members of the holder upon themselves, as shown at 15, in which case four radial supports are provided which may lie against the upper edge of the vessel. The holder will still be of considerable length compared to the height of the vessel, and flowers may be arranged within the vessel in an artistic manner, not possible without the use of the holder in a vessel of this type.

Due to the fact that the side members are made of comparatively thin and narrow strips of pliant material, preferably metal, they may be bent or curved to any desired form and after use be straightened so that the holder may be placed within a slender flower vase of considerable height, or within any. vessel of dii'erent shape from that in which the holder was last used, since these side members may again be bent to any desired shape.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is l. A holder for cut flowers, comprising a support and a retainer-ring at the upper end of said support, said support being constructed of pliant material so that any part along the length thereof may be diminished in width.

2. A holder for cut flowers, comprising a support adapted to be thrust within a water container, and a retainer-ring at the upper end of said support, said support being constructed of a plurality of pliant members capable of being bulged or bent along the length of the support to increase the width of the same.

3. A holder for cut flowers, comprising a support adapted to be thrust within a water container, and a retainer-ring at the upper end of said support, said support being constructed of a plurality of pliant members connected at t ieir upper ends to said retainer-ring and arranged so that any part along the length thereof may be flexed or bent to increase or diminish the width of the suport.

p 4. A holder for cut iowers, comprising a support adapted to be thrust within a water container and comprising a plurality of spaced upstanding members, and a retainerring at the upper end of said support connecting said upstanding members, said support being constructed of pliant material so that the holder may be reduced in height by bending said material.

5. A holder for cut flowers, comprising a support adapted to be thrust within a water container and comprising a pluralit of spaced upstanding members connecte together at their lower ends, and a retainerring at the upper end of said support kconnected to said upstanding members, said upstanding members being constructed of pliant material so that the holder may be reduced in height and changed in lateral dimensions.

6. A holder for cut flowers, comprising two elongated U-shaped members arranged at right angles to each other and loosely connected tovether at their lower ends, said U-shaped mem ers being formed of pliant metallic strips adapted to be bent into any desired form, and an expansible and contractible retainer-ring connected to the extremities of said U-shaped members.

7. A holder for cut iiowers, comprising a support formed of two thin pliant slender metallic strips, each strip bent upon itself to form a medial cross member and two side CHARLES J. STRAUB. 

